Review On Factors Influencing The Extrauterine Growth Retardation Of Premature Infants

Premature infants, also called preterm infants, refer to the babies born before agestational age of37complete weeks, including extremely preterm infants which areborn before28weeks of gestation, moderately preterm infants which are born alive at29-33weeks gestational age, and late preterm babies which are born at34-37weeks of gestation. The survival rate of premature infants has been increasing year byyear along with the technological advancement in obstetrics and neonatal intensivecare. The premature infants have not received sufficient nutrients when they are born.There are a variety of factors promoting premature birth, such as pregnancy-inducedhypertension syndrome, which may cause more severe lack of nutrient reserve inuterus. Many preterm infants can not receive adequate nutrient intake and thusdevelop extrauterine growth restriction (EUGR) due to their weak immune system,immature organs, lack of gastrointestinal motility, uncoordinated sucking andswallowing acts, poor tolerance to enteral feeding, and the influence of variousdiseases after birth. EUGR is defines as growth indicators (weight, length, or headcircumference) at the time of hospital discharge are lower than the tenth percentile ofintrauterine growth expectation. Many factors are related to the incidence of EURGsuch as nutrition, gestational age, birth weight, internal secretion, fasting, intrauterinegrowth retardation, initiation of oral feeding, days before birth weight restoring,gender and feeding patterns. So, the present paper reviews the latest achievements inthe factors influencing the growth and development of premature infants, andprovides reference for reducing the occurrence of EUGR in preterm infants.